Ariel511's Xanga

Pictures Posted

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 03:38:14 GMT

I finally posted pictures from the trip! Click on photos at the top left. Sorry they took so long, tune in next week for pictures of the apartment and Jude (my puppy!).

Soccer mania/An American girl in Paris

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 13:14:55 GMT

ok so when we last left off, Yasmine and I were headed into Bern for some shopping and groceries. We stopped at a trendy cafe that used to be an old school gym. We grocery shopped and headed back for naps. On the way back I explained to Yasmine what groceries were - its kinda a weird word when you think about it because of its time dependency. Groceries are things bought in a food store on their way to your fridge. Yeah English.

So after a nap where neither of us slept, we headed into town to try to get into the fan zone. The fan zone is the plaza in Bern, which at the time contained a huge tv with beer and food stands. It was insanely crowded, with Swiss fans decked out in as much red and white as humanly possible. There were also Dutch fans, who were even more ridiculous in their neon orange. Yasmine, Patrick (her roommate), and I all got Swiss flags tattooed on our faces. We were also the last people to get into the zone (like literally they tried to keep Yasmine out till they realized she was with me and patrick) so we watched the game (Switzerland lost) and seeing the rituals and hearing the fans was really cool.

Afterwards we met up with Yasmine's cousin, Simone, Patrick's boyfriend Mark, and Miro's girlfriend Balla (I think thats how you spell it-thats what it sounds like anyway. Werner said its a version of Barbara) and we went to Nordsud, a bar Yasmine and I went to the night before. Yasmine took me home around midnight, where I showered and slept.

Sunday I was pretty lazy. Yasmine, Miro, and Balla came over for a smokes salmon brunch, and dad got back from hiking. Miro made us dinner and I cooked enormous white asparagus on the side.

Up early on Monday for my train. I realized I still had 70 Swiss francs left, so I bought 2 new books and enough food for the rest of the day. Upon arrive in Paris I went straight to my hotel. I was staying in another private home, this one closer to the city, but it was bigger. I had the whole first floor to myself. It wasn't clean yet, so I droped my bags off and went to see the Eiffel tower and Musee du l'Oragnirie, which housed the 8 enormous panels of Monet's Water Lillies. Then I went back to my hotel and had dinner. I went to bed early, I was tired from the traveling.

The next (and only full) day in Paris I went to Musee Rodin, and I saw The Thinker, The Age Of Bronze, and The Gates of Hell. Keep in mind these were all bronze works, most of which many copies were made, often by Rodin himself. The Thinker that I saw previously was the original, and The Gates of Hell, Rodin did not feel was complete before he died, although it is still a masterpeice, and two of them exist (the other is in Philadelphia)

Next I spent time walking through the streets of Paris stping at a few stores, and personally hunting down some my guidebook recommended. Dinner was at a cafe on the Siene River, where I could see the Notre-dame cathedral. I found Internet and checked up on email, and then went back to my room, stopping on the way for a delicious crepe with nutella.

So now I'm in new York, and it is hard to beleive my trip is over. I was very sad to leave, even though I'm very excited about starting my new life in Houston.

Thanks for reading, I may post some more about things in Houston and I will def post pictures within a week!

To Bern

Sat, 07 Jun 2008 08:58:23 GMT

After the last entry, Dad and I went for a walk around Vienna. We walked up our street, to the water, and then around the walking area behind Hofburg. We snacked a little bit, and mostly just watched people, but one thing we did was go inside the Stephansdom, the large cathedral in that area. It was having a special show, the cdolumns in the cathedral were all lit in blue, and there were white panels all over the cathedral, especially forming a trianglur figure over the high alter. On the panels between the nave and the aisles were projected pictures of people's faces. I asked what it was, and the guy said that they were taking pictures of people out on the street, and projecting them onto the white screens. The screens on the high alter was an angel, with the other screens as its wings. The point was that everyone could be someone's angel. I will post pictures, it was beautiful.

Thursday we got up and went to the baker's across the street. We bought bread for our trip and a chocolate filled crossiant. Then off to the train station and Bern. In Bern, we are meeting up with Werner and his family. Werner was a forgein exchange student that stayed with my family when my dad was young. We visited him the first time I went to Europe, and he offered to host us this time too. Werner has two kids, who are about me and my brother's age.

So Werner picked us up from the train station and brought us to his house. We had a great dinner, salad and penne pasta with pesto made from the basil in his garden. Yasmine joined us, but Miro was working.

In the morning, we had breakfast with Werner and Miro, and then we headed into the city. We took the long way, along the river. Werner is a great tour guide, he pointed out all the important sites along the way, including the Münster (the cathedral in Bern), the Zytglogge (an astronomical clock, very similar to the one we saw in Prague), and the bear pits. Bern was named after the bears, as the founder of Bern said he would name the town after the first animal he killed there, and on the banks of the river he killed a bear. The bear pits weren't as bad as I thought they would be, they had a lot of trees and were pretty big. Yasmine and Miro switched, about halfway through our tour, Miro leaving and Yasmine joining us. We walked the streets a bit and then went to the Kornhaus for lunch- can you guess what it used to be? A granary, and it is now converted into a beautiful resturant.

After that, Dad and I found ATMs for cash, bought chocolates to take home, and then I stopped at the train station to buy my next ticket. Dad and Yasmine went back to Werner's, while Werner and I went to Kunstmuseum, where there was a special exhibit on Ferdinand Holder. Lots and lots of paintings, mostly landscapes.We went back to Werner's, and got ready to go out for dinner. We took the train to Thum (which is a lake Holder painted a lot), and did a dinner cruise along the lake. The boat was beautiful, and it was actually a passenger ferry too. It stuck close to the shore around the lake, constantly stopping to let people on or off. Dad and I both had fantastic lamb for dinner, and then we just enjoyed the boat ride. It was a sidewheeler, and the engine was out for everyone to look at - it was a marvel. I took video, I'll try to post it.

Back in Bern, Dad and Werner dropped me off at a bar called Propeller, where I sat for a while. I saw a couple of weird drinks, one was where a glass with a shot of absinthe (which is legal here) has a slotted spoon placed over it, with a sugar cube on it (at least I think it was sugar). Then water was poured over it, and the sugar cube dissolved into the drink. Then it was set on fire. I only think it was water, because it was in a big pitcher that they didn't finish - I don't think people would leave alcohol on the bar, as expensive as it is. Anyway, Miro found me, and we went out onto the streets to the 'lookout point' in Miro's words. Also in Miro's words - Bern is a city in soccer fever. The European Soccer Championship is in Basel, Switzerland this weekend, and it is crazy. We have seen fans everywhere, especially on the train coming in. Everything is decorated for Euro 2008, as they call it. So Werner and Miro explained that the games are very expensive, and most tickets are given to companies, while very few are sold to the public (for about 300 dollars). But, in each city is a party, with concerts and a large screen broadcasting the game. So Miro and I went to the lookout point, which was the entrance to the concert, where you could see the stage without going in. Yasmine found us there, and her and I went to a bar called Nordsüd, for a few drinks, and then to a bar called Cuba, which was kind of a club. Lots of salsa dancing, etc. We met up with some of Yasmine's friends, and I think I spent the rest of the night talking more in Spanish then in English (Yasmine speaks English, French, German, Spanish, and Swiss-German). We went to Yasmine's place for a snack, and then Yasmine took me home.

This morning Dad and Werner left for a hiking trip, and an overnight stay in a lodge somewhere, so I am here by myself, but Yasmine is acting as my guide. She is on her way over to take me into town, so I should be going. Auf Widersehen!

Two days in Vienna

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 14:15:14 GMT

After waking up on Tuesday, we headed towards central Vienna. We stopped at the Albertina Museum, which had various collections of art from Impressionists, to Neoimpressionists, to cubists and surealists. A couple of Monets and Cezannes like usual. Next we headed to the riding school. On the way, we say the memorial to Mozart. Turns out the Lipizzaner Museum at the Spanish Riding school is closed, so Dad and I bought tickets to see the morning workout on Wednesday.

Wer had lunch at a place called Vapilino's, which is a chain restruant (I'd seen one in Berlin). They give you a card, and you go to different stations to get what you want and they keep track on your card. I ordered a pizza with serano ham, figs, homey, mozzarela and tomatoes. It was good. I also had 2 glasses of Reisling, which was very good. The only bad thing was that I put red pepper on the pizza. It wasn't just red pepper, it was Cayenne, so Dad and I had to put up with burning our mouths for a bit. Good thing i didnt put it on the whole pizza.

Next we found the Naschmarkt, which was really cool. Stall after stall of spices, exotic fruit, dried fruit, and anitpasta everwhere. I took some pictures. Dad and I got food for a picnic dinner later.

Back at the hotel, I used the internet and Dad napped. When I went back upstairs Dad got on the computer and encouraged me to go for a walk. So I read in my guide book that Karlskirche (a church) was open till 7. I got there at 5 30, and they told me it closed at 6. So I went in search of a bookstore instead. Seeing as how we have 10 hours on a train Thursday, I was going to need some reading material. I had told Dad to meet me in front of the Karlskirche at 6 30, and I had no luck finding a bookstore. However, when Dad met me, he said he'd gotten us some wine to go with dinner, and had found a wine bar and a bookstore. So, Dad and I had dinner in the Karlsplatz (Kalr's Plaza). We had:

Cheese stuffed peppers
mini-eightball squash stuffed with cheese and almonds
capers (which are ENORMOUS here)
pickled garlic
stuffed grape leaves
artichokes stuffed with cheese and olives
cheese logs wrapped in eggplant
babaganoush

We didn't finish it all. Dad also treated to some exotic fruit. I'll have to post a picture cause I have no idea what half of them were. There were definitely lichis, dragon fruit, and figs. The figs were great - huge and ripe.

We packed up the rest and walked to the bookstore. It was closed, but we noted the times. As we walk home, we run into the wine bar Dad had seen earlier, called Wiener Blut. It's small, like 10 people there at a time. But everyone spoke varying degrees of english, and soon we were pretty popular. The bartender was Walter, who was the front singer of a band that shared a name with the bar. The people in the bar gave us plenty of recommendations for things to do in Vienna.

Now, it's wednesday. We started by going to the Spanish Riding School. There are 2 hours of training, with 4 different sections. So 6 horses were in the arena at a time. They rode for a half hour, and then new horses and riders came in. It was nice to watch, but not what I'd been expecting. I was hoping to see more difficult manuvers, but most of it was stuff I know how to do. Next we went to the Silver Collection, the Sisi Museum and the Imperial Apartments. The Silver Collection was an exhibit on all the tableware used throughout the Hapsburg dynasty. Some of it was really elaborate and beuaitful. The Sisi Museum was about the Emepress Elisabeth, who was a little odd for a ruler. She was nuerotic about her weight, and had a very strick regiment of diet and excersise. She also rode horses and fenced, while completely ignoring her royal duties. She was very dark - always wishing for death and hating her royal life. The Imperial Apartments were the home of both Emperess Elizabeth and her husband, Emporer Franz Joseph.

Lunchtime on Naglergasse, at a resturant called something like hfierz. It was pretty good. Then some shopping. The whole area behind the Hofburg complex is pedestrian streets, which were very nice.

Finally we went to Karlskirche, the church built by Emperor Karl VI after the plague left Vienna for the second time. It is enormous and beautiful. The best part was that they are retouching the frescoes in the cupola, so they have scaffolding up, but they allow you to go up to the base of the dome (via elevator!) and then climb stairs to the very top of the cuploa. You can almost touch the walls of the dome as you climb, and then you get a panoramic view of Vienna. The High Alter is also really fascinating. It may be one of the best churches I've been in.

Now, Dad is napping, and I am going to take the time to shower. We're going to eat leftovers from the picnic yesterday - we have alot of capers and garlic left, plus some grape leaves and babaganoush. With wine of course...

3 Down, 3 to go

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 17:46:33 GMT

Today we arrived in Vienna. Im going to amke this quick cause we didn't do a whole lot. Basically we found our hoetl (took a while) then headed out to eat (got lost). We ate at a great place with a patio (will get name later). We sat next to a guy who was local, but was in architecture school here. He spoke great English, so I asked him what exactly Wiener Schnitzel was. Well I thought it was a kinda of sausage, but it's actually a viennesse classic of pounded veal, breaded and fried. It was served with a fruit sauce - one menu called it cranberries, one menu said lindonberries. Either way it was good. Dad has a ginormous peice of ham leg, which was for two, so he packed what he didnt eat up and we will have it with breakfast. We stopped at a grocery store and got bread, salami, pate, and some cheese, all for breakfast tomorrow. We will have to refresh - if you dont get bread in the morning, its all gone later in the day.

Anyway, we have 2 full days in Vienna, and then we leave for Bern Thursday. We travel all day (9 40 to 7 30), which stinks, but gives me an excuse to buy more books. Dad thinks I should ship somethings home, including used guidebooks and gifts. We'll see.

Bed time now...or at least a shower and some music in bed.

Night.

the end of Prague

Sun, 01 Jun 2008 15:56:30 GMT

Saturday after the Internet, dad and I bought groceries and went back to our hotel room. We packed lunches and went in search of a park. We found it kinda. Apparently our hotel is two separate buildings. The second is accessable via cable car. From the top, there is a winding trial down to the original site. So dad an I parked in some shady grass, ate our lunches (including small bottles of red wine/champange - guess who's was who's) and then we headed back down. Our hotel has a fitness center and suanas, so dad an I worked out (I did the stair climber followed by sit ups, push ups, squads and lat pull downs. Then dad and I sat in a dry heat suana. It was ok. U think I wild prefer a steam room.

After that dad napped while I finished The Alchemist -thanks amanda- and then we had dinner at 8 at a place between our hotel and the mall - I'll have to find the name. Dad had pork knuckle. They serve it on a skewer held above your plate - dad loved it. I had roasted duck, which came with three kinds of dumplings and cabbage. Both entrees were very good. Then we went back to the mall quickly - we needed a hotel in Vienna - and then dad and I played pool at the mall. Technically we tied, but by our score keeping dad won (he sunk the eight ball in prematurely to lose a round but a continuted and gave instead of started from scratch) it started to rain on our way back to the hotel, with thunder and lightening.

Sunday (today for me) we bought all day passes on the public transit system. They last 24 hours, so we will use the pass tomorow to get to the train station. We got up and finished most of the groceries for breakfast. We took the team to jewish quarter and old town, where we went to the old town square. We saw the Tyn church, and the old town hall, which has a clock that is pretty fantastic. A crowd gathers every hour on the hour to watch it. I got a video, but I'm not are how much UPI will be able to see in it. By the way, I will be updating each post with pictures once I get home. I didnt bring the cable for my camera with me, so it has to wait. We walked past the Jewish cetmetary and past the Rudolfinium, a concert hall. Then we hopped on the tram to the north shore in Prague, and walked the Stromovka park. Then, the national gallery, where we saw some impressionist work, including Pissaros, Monets, Rodins, Cezannes, etc, but the museum was mostly modern art, with a lot of Picasso.

Back on the tram for lunch at 2. We shared a kg of mussels at Les Moules, which was served beluim style with pommes frites. Then we headed to a bakery recommended on my map called Bakeshop Praha. We bought a quiche for breakfast tomorrow, as well as the biggest merengue we'd ever seen (how could you not buy it?) From there we went to a resturant called in english, The Witch. We each had 2 drinks (dad, beer, me, white wine) and we shared an order of steak tartare. Steak tartare is very lean beef, ground up and served with a raw egg yolk, as well as various spices, condiments, and some delicious, olive brushed, toasted bread. It was fantastic! I enjoyed it with a little bit of salt and mustard? But horse radish would have been great.

Our waitress was nice too. Dad went to the bathroom, which was downstairs, and while he was gone, the waitress told me the men's bathroom is downsaira in hell, while the girl's is upstairs. "devils to devils"

Now we are back at the mall for interet. It is free for me because I'm using my phone, which is why I have the time to write so much. By the way I have gotten a few comments, so I know I have some steady readers, but if anyone wants to comment go ahead!

Its raining again, but dad and I have our train to Vienna tomorrow and dad did a nice job with our hotel again, so Internet may be free at the hotel this time.

Will write tomorrow when settled in Vienna!

PS Bon Jovi plays a concert in Vienna on Wednesday. Will try to find tickets! If only I had known about Snow Patrol playing in Sydney when I was there!

Workout, Prague style

Sat, 31 May 2008 08:42:24 GMT

Yesterday after Internet time, dad and I headed over to the Prague castle. We took the tram, which dropped us off at a plaza at the foot of the hill. From there, it is several hundred stairs up to the castle gate (Amy - remember the castle in Lisbon?) so dad and I hiked up. It was a very rewarding view. The castle contains an art gallery, a cathedral, bascillica, as well as may midevil streets and houses. We got an audioguide for the tour, which was great. I was able to use my student health insurance card to get the student discount again (I packed away my RPI ID). So we did the cathedral, which by the way, the bell tower was another 287 stairs. We grabbed lunch, a shared bread bowl of goulash, and finished the rest of the castle by 5. From there, we walked around more of the west bank, which is the area we had explored the night before. Per classic dad, we had a dinner cruise on the river, which had a buffet. We had some pretty good wine with it, and dad has been drinking dark beers with every meal.

Today we are going to pack a picnic lunch and go explore the park to the west of our hotel. It will be a hike but its good for us. Tomorrow I think I will go explore the east bank, which is more churches and museums (dad might do his own thing) Monday we leave for Vienna.

Welcome to Prague!

Fri, 30 May 2008 08:41:57 GMT

Allright, yesterday I got up at 7 30 to catch my train to Prague. This train had the reserved rooms where you sit with 5 other people. My room had 3 students from the bible belt on study abroad with a big group. They were eating mcdonalds. I put on my headphones and tuned them out.

The country side in Germany is gorgeous. I think that once I get my german down and have time off work, I would like to explore Germany more. The hours are all very quaint, there's always a backyard filled up with a garden, and there are windmills everywhere.

So I checked into our hotel, which dad booked on priceline and saved a bunch of money (my guidebook calls our hotel "luxurious") dad got in just as I was walking to the lobby to wait for him. So dad napped and I went to explore the area. There's a big mall about 3 blocks from our hotel, with a grocery store. So I picked up bread, meat, cheese, water, and fruit. I went back to the hotel to wait for dad to wake up.

We left the hotel for dinner. Prague is really a midevil town, which was very nice to walk through. We went to a traditonal beer hall for dinner, one thats been around since the 15th century. Its kind of a touristy place, but there were tons of people there. We shared a bowl of onion soup and a special platter of Czech food - sausage, beef tender, and a big hunk of duck, with saurkraut, red cabbage, and two kinds of dumplings on the side. When you first get there they bring around beer - they only have one kind, which they brew, and shots of something thats vaugely like goldschlager. Dad thinks its absinthe, which we see signs for everywhere. There was accordianist playing, and soon all the germans (we assumed) in the beerhall were singing loudly. Pretty entertaining. We also made friends with the couple next to us who were from New South Wales. He said there are beer halls like this all over eastern Europe.

From dinner, we walked all over the town, especially the west bank. There is a huge castle in Prague which is on our list to do. We walked around a lot and got quite lost. Dad stopped and looks at the boats on the river of course. Praue is much more centered around the river then Berlin or Brussels. Actually I didnt really see a river in Berlin, and I know that Brussels literaly covered the river over. The river in Prague is nice though, lots of bridges and resturants over looking the water.

Apparently the cable I got to charge my camera didnt work, so my battey was dead all day yesterday, so I used dads charger last night. Thankfully using the European cable didnt cause my battery to explode, and my camera is fully charged now.

There was something else we saw last night, which is hard to describe. In a park there was a crowd of people standing around a tree watching. As we get closer we see these two guys walking arums the tree, over the roots, etc. They big have this like drugged look on their face and as they move away from the tree they are both walking in small steps. It was either 2 crazies in the park or a really weird/disturbing form of performance art.

Anyway, this morning we got up late, ate some of the food, and headed to the mall, where we found free Internet. Next we are going to go to the castle, and then a cathedral and beer hall near it.

Cheers!

Berlin, Day 2

Wed, 28 May 2008 16:18:49 GMT

Ok, so let's see. After my last post I went to the Zoo, which was pretty normal, lots of baby animals this time of year, including Knut the Polar bear who was born about a year and a half ago. He's looking like a teenager now, but still cute. Then i had a crepe with nutella (of course). It was delicious! Now I remember why i don't buy nutella at home...it's too tempting. The nutella I bought in Brussels on my first day is long gone, granted it was a small thing (200 grams i think)

From there, I went to go see Fernsehturm, (it's pretty much Berlin's space needle). It is pretty impressive, although i didn't go inside. There is a beautiful park around it, so I walked that, passed by some churches, and onto the Museum insel (Museum Island). There are about 5 museums there, and the one called Pergamon-museum came highly recommended from my guide book. So I headed that way but then I saw signs for all the museums, with descriptions. Pergamon-museums was roman antiquities (like ancient art museum) while Alte Nationalgalerie (Old National Gallery) was 19th century european art (i.e. Impressionist work). Not a difficult choice for me. I got to see Cezannes, Rodins (including the original The Thinker), Manets, Monets, and a particularly fantastic work called The Isle of The Dead by Arnold Böcklin. If anyone has never seen Rodin's "The Age Of Bronze" it is pretty impressive.

On to dinner at a place called Zum Schusterjungen, which was more german food (Goulash this time, but the same sides as before for like half as much). I am kinda glad it's my last night in Germany - the food is not doing so well in my book, especially the rice dumplings. Good in theory - I think it's the word dumpling that gets me thinking "yum".

Anyway, I have to be up early for my train tomorrow to Prague, where I meet Dad. Good night!

Berlin Day 1

Wed, 28 May 2008 09:21:43 GMT

Ok, so yesterday morning I got up at 9 (ish). It's hard to get up when no one is waiting on you for breakfast. I finished my strawberries and headed out. It's about a 2 block walk from my hotel to the bus stop, and then I ride the bus for about 15 minutes to get into downtown. The bus drops me off Right next to the Berlin Zoo and Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtnis-Kirche. Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtnis-Kirche is a church that was partially distroyed during World War 2. Instead of rebulding it, they made it in to a memorial for Kaiser-Wilhelm (King William) and built a new modern church next to it. I'll show you guys pictures when I get home. From there I walked down Kurfürstendamm and Tauentzienstaße, two major shopping streets in Berlin. One thing I don't like about Berlin is that everything is kind of Americanized. The stores were H&M, Zara, Polo, things we get in the states. I did go into KaDeWe, which is like German`s version of Harrod's, the store in London. I got some white asparagus from the antipasta display for my lunch. From there, I went to Tiergarten, which is Berlinäs largest park. It is very pretty, I even saw a bunny! Next I saw the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. I'm not even sure how to describe this, you'll have to wait till I post pictures. From there I went to the Brandenburg Tor (Gate). This gate was a symbol of Germany's independance, and it was later incoperated into the Berlin Wall. Next was a walk through Potsdamer Platz, where the entire area was distroyed and rebuilt in a modern style (they did this with alot of Berlin). They also had section of the Berlin Wall there. Next, Topographe of Terrors (which isn't as bad as it sounds. It is an open air display on the site of the former Gestapo and Secret Police Headquarters. It is pretty sad, it talks a lot about how people were detained there on their way to concerntration camps usually.

From there I moved to Checkpoint Charlie, which was one of the Allied crossing points at the border of West Berlin. (There were checkpoints Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, etc, Charlie was the one that was preserved as a memorial). This also included another open air exhibit on the Berlin wall and memorials to people who were killed trying to cross the border.

And then, as if my day didn't have enough depression in it, I went to the Judisches (Jewish) Museum. Actually it wasn't that bad. The museum is really an architectural sighting, a very modern building. The first part talks about the emigration of Jews during the war, and had displays of personal items donated by family members of people who died during the war. There were several areas of significant architectural importance. The museum basement had 3 aisles that crossed each other, creating a triangle. If I remember correctly, they were the triangles of exile, continuity, and holocaust. At the ends of each of these was a void of some sort - really only explainable by pictures. (I will post)

The 1st and 2nd floors were exhibits on the history of Judism, where it started, their beliefs, and then continued on through the decades. It was good but really long. I didn't do the whole thing, and I left at 7 30. I got a fantastic dinner at a place called Max and Mortiz. I had beef that had been marinated in red wine, its own juices, and history (according to the menu). It was served with red cabbage (which I only just started to like in the states), and rice dumplings. The dumpings were good, but I kinda got sick of them towards the end. It's an odd texture. But anyway, the resturant was great, they gave me a menu in English, and most of the waitresses spoke enough english to communicate effectively (I asked for a really German dish, which is how I ended up with what I got).

I had a problem with my adapter - I bought it at radio shack and it doesn't really work. I managed to hoodwink it in Brussels, but it wouldn't work here. So I went to KaDeWe this morning to get a different adapter. I think that since the weather is so nice, I will check out the zoo today.

Miss everyone!